Just in time for the new Harry Potter movie, I've been working on a Quidditch game. I'm pretty pleased with the results, but I'd love some feedback!

I'm especially curious to hear advice on how I'm deploying everything, how I'm handling the fullscreen stuff, and how to improve the framerate on slower computers. But if nothing else, hopefully it will provide a few minutes of entertainment.

I'm glad you put jar file. I'm not fan of Harry Potter so what is different between those balls?

Thanks. I try to give as many options as possible, I know different people prefer different deployment strategies. I'm still not convinced I'm presenting it the best way though. Not to mention I need to pretty up my HTML and CSS.

As for the balls, hopefully the "How to Play" in-game tutorial covers it, but here are the basics:

The red ball is called the Quaffle. You want to get it through your opponent's goal, and prevent it from going into your goal. You can catch the Quaffle (just run into it) and throw it while flying (/? for player 1, E for player 2), or you can hit it towards the goal with your beater bat (.> for player 1, R for player 2).

The black balls are called Bludgers, and you are stunned (and drop the quaffle) when they hit you- you can't catch them. You want to hit them away from you and towards your opponent with your beater bat (.> for player 1, R for player 2).

The yellow ball is called the Snitch. You get 50 points for catching it, and the game ends. You can also hit it with your beater bat (in case you were down by 60 points and wanted to catch up before letting the game end).

So, to make it even simpler:Red = good. Get it through the goal, don't let it in yours.Black = bad. Hit them towards your opponent.Yellow = very good. Catch it for 50 points and the game ends.

I started with the "How to Play" link. I went through the steps but at the "Press P to pause and return to main menu" I could not figure out how to get back to the main menu.

I also got confused because the red ball was behind the goal and I couldn't go and pick it up.

I realize now the mechanics driving the above behavior but it was confusing at first.

Fun game and I wish I could try it multiplayer with someone!

Thanks for sharing.

Awesome, I'm glad it worked on a mac, since I don't have one to test my stuff on and I've heard about issues in the past (although I think that might have been a case of the person not knowing how to get Java to work on his own mac).

To exit to the main menu, you just press space while the game is paused. It should say that (in big white letters in the sky), does it not?

And just in case the behavior of the red ball (Quaffle) confuses anyone else, I'll explain- when a goal is made, the Quaffle drops to the ground behind the goal, so that the player who was just scored against can pick it up. This also gives the player who just scored a chance to get in position to guard his/her own goal. In the tutorial, if you want to retrieve the Quaffle, you can control player 2 with WASD, E, and R.

Thanks! There is a two player option (which you probably saw), I'd be curious about how that plays out since I haven't played against another human yet either.

By the way, in Harry Potter, if you catch the snitch you get 150 points not 50

Hahaha, I was wondering how long it would take for somebody to call me out on that one. I figured since it's one-on-one, making the snitch worth 150 points would pretty much make the rest of the game pointless (or way too long), so I made it worth only 50. That's still pretty high in some games.

Good job. My only complaint is you can tell the difference between your player and the opponent. When it gets crazy I sometimes follow the computer player because he just happens to be doing what I am trying to do, then al of a sudden it seems like the controls aren't working.

Good job. My only complaint is you can tell the difference between your player and the opponent. When it gets crazy I sometimes follow the computer player because he just happens to be doing what I am trying to do, then al of a sudden it seems like the controls aren't working.

That's really valid; it happens to me too. I've updated it so that it now fills in player 2's head instead of leaving it open- it's not much, but hopefully it will help. I'm really reaching my artistic limits here, heh.

I would like to be able to re-map the keys - Nothing for except movement works for player1 on my danish keyboard :/

Wow, I never really thought about that. Getting feedback from just a few people has really opened my eyes to what I was missing, and I've learned some pretty important lessons for my next games. Thanks again.

I've updated it to include the ability to redefine the keys. There's another button on the main menu (in the lower left hand corner) that will walk you through the process of changing the keys.

Let me know if that works, as I only have American keyboards to test it with.

Good job man this game is fun, I find myself coming back to it every now and then!

Just one suggestion though, the snitch seems to follow a pretty predictable pattern, maybe it could choose a random path and fly through it quickly making it a bit more difficult, because currently you can just ignore the quaffle all together, but either way, good job!

Just one suggestion though, the snitch seems to follow a pretty predictable pattern, maybe it could choose a random path and fly through it quickly making it a bit more difficult, because currently you can just ignore the quaffle all together, but either way, good job!

Yeah, the Snitch follows the same path every time. I thought about doing something else, but I didn't want the game to go on forever and become boring. I probably made the games a little too short instead, but you can always prolong the game by beating the Snitch away instead of catching it. Thanks for the feedback, I'll probably do something a little more intricate if I ever make a new version.

I went to the tutorial and sat there watching. It didn't occur to me to actually press a key, so nothing happened. I just saw the first message about movement keys. Had to hit escape to get started again. (Include a "hit any key to continue" sort of message?)

Same thing happened with the "watch game" as I did not know to hit "P" to get out. I tried things like space-bar and esc and enter. Had to close and restart again.

Finally I got a game going, and was getting messed up badly by the black objects. I was trying to fly away from them rather than bat them. I don't know why I was resisting trying the bat key. Probably if I had gone through the tutorial in a proper fashion, then I would have been batting from the start.

About the black guys, they sometimes both occupy the same paths, which I assume was not your intention. Do they "heat seek" the closest player? I was trying to go places so they would veer off of me and onto the opponent. This might have worked but the opponent is able to bat them over in my direction, even if I'm all the way across the screen.

Finally, figured out all the keystrokes and made it through the tutorial. Still, the "watch game" maybe should have a message about hitting "P" to get out.

Oh, when I am in the Applet start, if I click on the image, the game does not start. It only works when I click on the text under the image.

Here is a strategy that you might want to do something about: ignore the red, let the opponent get the first 10 pts. Just focus on the yellow. Since the red never comes back into play, you can do this indefinitely at zero cost! Better: if there is a time limit after which the red gets kicked into play? That may not be "cricket" in terms of how the rules of the game goes, but there should be a way that the opponent can rack up points if you ignore it, there should be a cost. Don't you agree?

The yellow could be harder to get. I agree with others that say it could be more unpredictable. I'm guessing you put it up high as the assumption is that the players will more likely be in the middle strata? There could be a "mild" avoidance AI routine on the yellow to set it on its way, so, for example, if the players are near the top waiting for it, it could come out the middle or bottom instead.

Will things get harder at higher "levels" of play? For example, more black balls? More intellegent AI for both the opponent and the yellow?

My wife saw me playing and I almost got her to join in. I should have just shown her the controls instead of letting her work through the interface. She got a bit impatient with trying to figure out the tutorial navigation (we got stuck in the "watch game" section again). Her tastes are more towards "Gem Drop" or "Farm Frenzy" type games, though occasionally goes for strategy games (big Civilization fan). So, I'm afraid I didn't get us to where we tried it out as a two-player. "Master Chef" was on the tube, another distraction. Oh well.

She did say she thought the two players looked too much alike, even with the head difference. I'm doing okay tracking them. I think I can track them better because I was understanding my controls, whereas she hadn't gotten to where she was flying them around yet.

Would it be better if there was a slight amount of gravity on the players? I found I could just sit and wait for the yellow. If there was a slight inclination to drop, sitting in wait would require a bit more work.

The AI for the opponent is kind of one-dimensional. It goes to the top corner and fires a shot that can't possibly go in. Then goes up and down. Sometimes it bats the red in, but I never saw it shoot it in.

I could swear I saw scores occur on a bounce (not 100% sure), but the instructions say no bouncing to score.

Having to return to the mouse to restart (when selecting single player game), when everything else is a keystroke, is kind of annoying in a mild sort of way. If there were a keystroke path to restart I would probably play more games in a row.

I hope there are some observations here that prove useful for you. Thanks for making the game. It was fun once I started getting the hang of it. By the way, play and animation IS smooth. Congratulations on that.

"We all secretly believe we are right about everything and, by extension, we are all wrong." W. Storr, The Unpersuadables

I went to the tutorial and sat there watching. It didn't occur to me to actually press a key, so nothing happened. I just saw the first message about movement keys. Had to hit escape to get started again. (Include a "hit any key to continue" sort of message?)

I thought about doing that, but I didn't want to have too much text displayed at any one time. For a future version, I'll probably make the tutorial more obvious.

Finally I got a game going, and was getting messed up badly by the black objects. I was trying to fly away from them rather than bat them. I don't know why I was resisting trying the bat key. Probably if I had gone through the tutorial in a proper fashion, then I would have been batting from the start.

Yeah, the best bet with them is to bat them away. You can dodge them, especially if your opponent is behind you, but it's usually better to hit them with your bat.

About the black guys, they sometimes both occupy the same paths, which I assume was not your intention. Do they "heat seek" the closest player? I was trying to go places so they would veer off of me and onto the opponent. This might have worked but the opponent is able to bat them over in my direction, even if I'm all the way across the screen.

Yeah, I know that happens, and I was pretty much okay with it. And yeah, they default chase the closest player, unless they've been hit with a bat, in which case they fly in the direction of the opponent for a moment before resuming their "heat seeking" behavior. Which means that you can bat them across the screen too, so that's why batting them is almost always better than dodging them.

Here is a strategy that you might want to do something about: ignore the red, let the opponent get the first 10 pts. Just focus on the yellow. Since the red never comes back into play, you can do this indefinitely at zero cost! Better: if there is a time limit after which the red gets kicked into play? That may not be "cricket" in terms of how the rules of the game goes, but there should be a way that the opponent can rack up points if you ignore it, there should be a cost. Don't you agree?

Haha yeah I realized that strategy, but that's no fun! Plus it makes a bit of sense to allow, as I think that might work in "real" Quidditch as well. I could have the Quaffle (that's the red one) slowly bounce out from behind the goal or something.

The yellow could be harder to get. I agree with others that say it could be more unpredictable. I'm guessing you put it up high as the assumption is that the players will more likely be in the middle strata? There could be a "mild" avoidance AI routine on the yellow to set it on its way, so, for example, if the players are near the top waiting for it, it could come out the middle or bottom instead.

I went back and forth on how to handle the Snitch (the yellow one). I wanted it to be hard enough to get, but not so hard that games went on forever. Ultimately, I decided that shorter games were better, otherwise people might be bored. I suppose I could have that be an adjustable setting.

My wife saw me playing and I almost got her to join in. I should have just shown her the controls instead of letting her work through the interface. She got a bit impatient with trying to figure out the tutorial navigation (we got stuck in the "watch game" section again). Her tastes are more towards "Gem Drop" or "Farm Frenzy" type games, though occasionally goes for strategy games (big Civilization fan). So, I'm afraid I didn't get us to where we tried it out as a two-player. "Master Chef" was on the tube, another distraction. Oh well.

Aw man, I'd be curious to hear about what would have happened if you had just told her the controls.

She did say she thought the two players looked too much alike, even with the head difference. I'm doing okay tracking them. I think I can track them better because I was understanding my controls, whereas she hadn't gotten to where she was flying them around yet.

That's fair. I'd need to find an artist for any other versions, as the art is pretty much the best I can do for now.

Would it be better if there was a slight amount of gravity on the players? I found I could just sit and wait for the yellow. If there was a slight inclination to drop, sitting in wait would require a bit more work.

Maybe, but I'm not sure how "real" broomsticks act. Do they float or do they drop? Plus it's no fun to just wait up there!

The AI for the opponent is kind of one-dimensional. It goes to the top corner and fires a shot that can't possibly go in. Then goes up and down. Sometimes it bats the red in, but I never saw it shoot it in.

Oh yeah, the AI is extremely simple. I added it mostly as an afterthought and a way to test without having to control both players at once. I would have to revamp it for any future versions.

I could swear I saw scores occur on a bounce (not 100% sure), but the instructions say no bouncing to score.

You can bounce it off the ground, but you can't bounce it off the wall and then into the goal from behind. You can bounce it off the wall, then to the other goal (from the front), but just not from behind.

Having to return to the mouse to restart (when selecting single player game), when everything else is a keystroke, is kind of annoying in a mild sort of way. If there were a keystroke path to restart I would probably play more games in a row.

I thought about that as well, but in the end I just got lazy. I'd need a better main menu for future versions, if I ever come back to this game.

I hope there are some observations here that prove useful for you. Thanks for making the game. It was fun once I started getting the hang of it. By the way, play and animation IS smooth. Congratulations on that.

Yep, very useful, and thanks for taking the time to play it. I'm sorry you had such difficulty with it, but I'll keep the things you said in mind for games I make in the future.

On the screens where one is presented buttons, e.g., "Applet", "Webstart", "Source", "Jar", the entire button works fine in Firefox, but the area with the player graphic (blue sky background) will not respond when clicked on my IE8. Somehow, the image graphic interferes with the button function.

Did someone say there was an IE9 now? Maybe that works better. I'm surprised (if there is one) that Microsoft hasn't been bombarding me with ads to upgrade.

Nothing to apologize for about my lack of navigation skills. These were just momentary bumps in the road--I was able to figure things out pretty quickly. I was just reporting them as you are collecting feedback.

"We all secretly believe we are right about everything and, by extension, we are all wrong." W. Storr, The Unpersuadables

On the screens where one is presented buttons, e.g., "Applet", "Webstart", "Source", "Jar", the entire button works fine in Firefox, but the area with the player graphic (blue sky background) will not respond when clicked on my IE8. Somehow, the image graphic interferes with the button function.

Ohhh yeah, I should have a huge disclaimer on all of my sites that says "DON'T BOTHER TRYING TO USE THIS IN INTERNET EXPLORER". I'm an absolute novice with the html/css/web stuff, and I was thrilled just to get it to work in firefox- fixing it for IE is on my to-do list, but I honestly don't even know where to start.

Did someone say there was an IE9 now? Maybe that works better. I'm surprised (if there is one) that Microsoft hasn't been bombarding me with ads to upgrade.

Ugh yeah, I had it working pretty much exactly how I wanted it to in firefox, and then the most recent upgrade of firefox slightly broke it again (at least on my machine, the "Source Code" buttons used to display fine, but now the text is messed up by word wrapping). That's not a big deal compared to how it doesn't work at all in IE, but still, why can't things just work the same in every browser!

Nothing to apologize for about my lack of navigation skills. These were just momentary bumps in the road--I was able to figure things out pretty quickly. I was just reporting them as you are collecting feedback.

It's much appreciated. I'm trying to learn as much as I can, and all feedback is definitely very helpful. Thanks again.

That seems strange, since it worked for another guy on mac (although maybe not as an applet), and Quidditch shouldn't be a class that it's trying to load anyway (it's not a class at all). Unfortunately, I have no way to test my stuff on a mac.

Thanks for trying it out. If it's choppy, does it improve if you change the quality from the pause menu?

Also, would you mind trying the applet version from my site again? I think I fixed the problem (I had the "code" attribute set to the name of the jar instead of the name of the applet class, I guess windows machines use the jnlp_href instead), but I have no way to test it.

Seriously, thanks again. It's okay if you don't have time; I know it can be annoying to do somebody else's dirty work for them.